Many crops that are farmed are row crops. Row crops are arranged into rows that are generally equally spaced parallel rows in a field separated by furrows. Tending row crops generally involves passing agricultural equipment (e.g., tractors, planters, harvesters, irrigators, fertilizers, etc.) over the field. Generally, the agricultural equipment should follow the rows such that support structures (e.g., wheels, treads, skids, etc.) remain in the furrows so as not to damage the crops. Further, equipment dealing directly with the crops should follow the centerline of the crop rows.
Navigation systems using an external location mechanism have been employed to facilitate automatic navigation of agricultural equipment. These systems include using global position system (GPS) units to locate the position of agricultural equipment with respect to crop rows. Generally, these systems use an initialization operation to determine positions through which the agricultural equipment should pass and then provide information about the current position of agricultural equipment in a field in order to facilitate navigation. An example initialization operation can include using a GPS unit to record the movement of agricultural equipment as the row crops are planted. This recording can later be used to guide the agricultural equipment for subsequent operations.